Best Action Series of the 21st Century?

[Rocketman]

We all know the classics from the 80's and 90's: Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Terminator, Indiana Jones, Predator, etc... But has there been anything worthy from the year 2000 to today? Please vote in the poll and explain your choice.

 

[Quasimod0]

Of these, I like the first Transformers. Hunger Games is fine. Last few Fast and furious movies have at least been exciting. Taken 1 is good.

 

[childeroland]

Fast and Furious. The series has characters you care about and just the right mix of absurd action and comedy held together by a family theme that works. Really well-cast too. It isn't nearly as good as the 80's and 90's films (including John Woo's classics) or contemporary Korean non-series films like The Man from Nowhere, The Chaser, or The Yellow Sea, but it's very worthwhile. And the way it morphed from the racing genre to the heist genre to something resembling the classic James Bond films (and manages to be better than most of the recent Bonds) deserves praise.

 

[dude stannis]

John Hyams' Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.
The Raid series.
Mad Max Fury Road.
Rambo and his .50 Cal in Rambo '08.

 

[Farren]

The Winter Soldier and Fury Road come to mind for me.

They had overall good action and choreography.

But they also had good stories, and they enhanced their action by taking advantage of the uniqueness of their worlds and characters (ex. Bucky ripping people and steering wheels out of cars, or the vehicle centered environment and plot of Fury Road). (And showing some restraint with CGI probably didn't hurt, but I don't want to get into that debate).

Die Hard is literally just a dude with a gun and low grade action hero skills running from and ambushing other dudes with guns in an office building. The action scenes are solid, but are still pretty brief and generic. But Die Hard knows how to generate suspense, tie its environment to its story, and and use the personality of its lead character. The first thing I think of when I think of Die Hard isn't the gun fights or the rooftop explosion, the first thing I think of is Bruce Willis doing everything with bloody, shoeless feet.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

The Bourne series. The first three were fantastic, heartfelt action-thrillers and they have influenced most action films since.

 

[Fincher]

I guess X-Men doesn't count? Then Underworld. Vampires + gothic atmosphere + Kate Beckinsale

I'm only two movies into The Hunger Games, though, and that has a good chance of surpassing it.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The Bourne series. The first three were fantastic, heartfelt action-thrillers and they have influenced most action films since.

This, so this. I'd also throw some love at the Raid.

 

[dude stannis]

I can't stand The Bourne action style honestly.

 

[Logan0327]

easily bourne series

 

[kedrell]

Leaving out stuff like the MCU as that's kinda unfair(and it's not just an action series), I'd go with the Bourne Series. Mission Impossible would be it but that started in the 20th century and thus is disqualified.

 

[StarLord]

John Hyams' Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.

Glad someone else appreciates this.

I'm no Adkins fan, but the film itself is bat**** crazy and is miles above Emmerich's version.

 

[dude stannis]

Glad someone else appreciates this.

I'm no Adkins fan, but the film itself is bat**** crazy and is miles above Emmerich's version.

Adkis was kinda perfect since he was [BLACKOUT]a blank clone.[/BLACKOUT] But yeah, really weird and massively ambitious film, the kind of thing I'm into.

 

[Iron_Stark]

Other - The MCU

The Expendables, honorable mention

 

[ripse]

F&F, Cool & Xtreme Racing, love it

 

[Zantera]

Out of the options given, I'm gonna go for the Fast & the Furious movies. They're not amazing cinema, but they're dumb fun and they know how dumb they are, so they're having fun with it.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Leaving out stuff like the MCU as that's kinda unfair(and it's not just an action series), I'd go with the Bourne Series. Mission Impossible would be it but that started in the 20th century and thus is disqualified.

Same with James Bond. Casino Royale and Skyfall are two of the best action movies ever.

 

[psylockolussus]

I wouldn't call The Hunger Games - an action series, but more like an adventure film series.

 

[Rocketman]

I chose The Expendables.

The combined power of Arnold Shwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Jean Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Wesley Snipes, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lungren... It's almost surreal to think they were in the same trilogy of movies. It's the most star-studded thing ever made in Hollywood.